The unemployment problem is expected to increase next month, with a higher jobless rate, increasing hidden unemployment and deteriorating work environment, even though last month’s unemployment rate was just below 6 percent, experts said.
Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) set a goal at the beginning of the year to keep this year’s average unemployment rate below 4.5 percent.
Labor activists were critical, saying conditions would not improve as fast as officials were hoping and the government was not being realistic.
“The job outlook is not very good for the coming year,” said Son Yu-lian (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labour Front. “Expecting to keep the year’s unemployment rate below 4.5 percent is too optimistic.”
The unemployment rate was expected to be at least 5.5 percent this year and next month’s jobless rate will most likely exceed 6 percent because the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said last month’s jobless rate was 5.94 percent, Son said.
Aside from increasing numbers of unemployed, there has also been a steep climb in the number of people not participating in the workforce, he said.
This shows that many workers are gradually leaving the job market and part of the working population are becoming non-workers, he said. These may include people who have given up looking for jobs, new graduates who choose to seek higher education because they cannot find jobs and women who become full-time housewives because of scarce job opportunities.
Kenneth Lin (林向愷), an economics professor at National Taiwan University, said that as labor supply continues to exceed demand, it can be expected that working conditions would deteriorate.
Employers still receive applications even if they have dramatically lowered salaries and compensation packages, since many jobseekers have lowered their standards because jobs are at an all-time low.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators said last week that the jobless numbers were being manipulated by the government, which counts people who work at least one hour a week as employed.
Such workers do not earn enough money to support themselves and their families, Lin said.
“More people are willing to take jobs that they would not have considered before,” he said, because they can no longer expect the conditions and opportunities that were available before the economic downturn.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS